OT: Pop Culture Misses
somewhat slow day on the board, so here's a thread to say what we've missed out on (For now). These typically double as good "Never have I ever" drinking game options but, anyway - what major pop culture stuff have you missed out on? now? Recently? "Back in the day"? Looking for things that were hugely popular that for, whatever reason, you never saw/heard/got into. (Feedback might also give you direction for your next Netflix binge, or your next set of concert tickets)
Mine are mostly large or small screen. I have never seen:
- The Sopranos
- Breaking Bad
- The Wire
- The Walking Dead
- Titanic
- Avatar
And besides Breaking Bad and The Wire, most people don't seem to think I've missed out on much. What are the things that you've (purposely or not) avoided in recent pop culture?
April 21st, 2016 at 12:02 PM ^
I've tried to watch Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead both.
I'm convinced GoT is only popular because this generation hasn't seen boobs in every movie released, like we did in the 80s. GoT has that, in spades.
The Walking Dead is just so chock full of dumb decisions I can't stand it.
I did watch Breaking Bad. It wasn't bad, but your life won't suffer from not watching it. Being in healthcare, the two "reasons" given for him to get into meth production are absurd, but thankfully they didn't dwell too much on them.
is really, really good and has nothing to do with people wanting to see "boobs."
2. Walt was sub-consciously and even perhaps consciously aware that his diagnoses was a mere pre-text for him to attempt to escape the existence he had created for himself and that had been created for him. He did not want Holly and felt like his son's disability demasculated him and prevented him from raising a child in his image. He convinced himself on some level that he was doing what he was doing to "take care of his family" but he did not want his family, hence his meltdown when he learned his cancer had gone away (temporarily). If you watched all of Breaking Bad and still thought that Walt did what he did because of medical bills I don't know what to tell you.
No, it wasn't the reason why he chose meth making. That was his ego, however you choose to elaborate on that.
But it was supposed to be the reason he needed money. And its so obviously unlike the real world works, I hated it. Then to top it off, they go back to the well again. With a federal employee. I mean c'mon. That's better than any insurance outside of Silicon Valley.
I watched 2 episodes of GoT. Not one character was even vaguely sympathetic. They were all douches. I'm not going to spend an hour watching a bunch of douches try to out douche each other.
April 22nd, 2016 at 10:54 AM ^
but you couldn't be more wrong about GOT. Very few watch and don't get hooked but those that don't "get into it" say it's too complicated and it can be. The first 4 or 5 shows are not great but towards last half of season 1 it takes off and doesn't stop. It has many sympathetic characters. I've done all the major series and GOT is the best I've watched. Can't wait til Sunday!
April 21st, 2016 at 10:38 AM ^
Most of the 2000s.
April 21st, 2016 at 10:44 AM ^
This probably isn't a big one, but I've heard a lot about the Daredevil series on Netflix. Just haven't gotten into it.
I also haven't seen the Sopranos, OP.
April 21st, 2016 at 10:53 AM ^
Daredevil isn't bad. Season 2 is on now but I keep pushing it out until there is nothing on. I liked it better than Jessica Jones
April 21st, 2016 at 12:04 PM ^
I'm at the end of Season 2, it's still a good season compared to what I've heard a lot of people say about it.
Jessica Jones with David Tennant's character was just such a perfect dark mind-fuck that I have no idea what they'll do without him.
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April 21st, 2016 at 11:16 AM ^
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April 21st, 2016 at 12:39 PM ^
but he is really into all the Marvel and DC comics.
April 21st, 2016 at 10:44 AM ^
- Game of Thrones
- Walking Dead
Game of Thrones is an especially bad miss because I'm almost positive I'd like it a lot and my coworkers are completely obsessed.
April 21st, 2016 at 10:51 AM ^
Never read the Lord of the Rings. Planned on it, started with The Hobbit, finished the Hobbit but didn't enjoy it, kicked them all back to the Shire.
April 21st, 2016 at 11:24 AM ^
They read better as a middle school kid than an adult.
April 21st, 2016 at 10:52 AM ^
I've been closing the gap recently because my wife is into shows such as "The Walking Dead", "Game Of Thrones" and the like, as well as network shows like "Arrow" and a few others that she follows and that I consequently will watch with her on occasion. Still to this day, however, I have not sat through a single episode of "Grey's Anatomy" and I have seen only a handful of "NCIS" episodes from any given series, certainly not enough to know who or what, if you will.
Also, I saw maybe 10-20 NYPD Blue episodes in the entire 12-year run of the show. There are a few other series I know tons of people enjoyed that I never or rarely watched, usually because there wasn't time.
April 21st, 2016 at 10:58 AM ^
Never seen Breaking Bad, Sopranos, Walking Dead, Game of Thrones.
As for "seen but missed the boat," I never understood what was so great about Mad Men. The first two seasons were OK-to- good, but after that it wasn't good at all.
April 21st, 2016 at 11:04 AM ^
was a polarizing show in this regard. When Mad Men was at its best, it was like "The Wonder Years for Adults." It was not really about anything in particular, it was just kind of a slice of life circa America 1960s. Later in its run it felt the need to justify its continued existence with almost "shock" moments like "what is Mad Men going to do next?" The change was hard to notice at first but by the end the show was kind of ridiculous and had pulled a complete 180 on the audience.
April 21st, 2016 at 11:10 AM ^
I couldn't get into Mad Men either, it just seemed like an endless competition to see who could be the worst human being and who could be more miserable.
It's the main reason I also never really warmed to either Breaking Bad(although I love Albuquerque and got excited to see it in the background) or The Sopranos.
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April 21st, 2016 at 10:59 AM ^
Almost every TV show anyone ever talks about, I've seen about 2% of its episodes at most, and in many cases none at all. Game of Thrones would be a rare exception. I guess maybe MASH and ST:TNG as well, but that's about it.
April 21st, 2016 at 11:18 AM ^
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April 21st, 2016 at 11:26 AM ^
It's a little surprising it got off the ground. The early episodes are kinda awkward, once you've gone through and seen the rest of 'em. It is the best ST series for sure, but it didn't really hit its stride until about season 3.
April 21st, 2016 at 11:51 AM ^
Totally agree with you. I plan to rewatch the entire series on Netflix, but am thinking of skipping seasons one and two.
Season 2 did turn out "The Measure of a Man." Far from a total loss.
April 21st, 2016 at 11:27 AM ^
I am an absurd fan of TOS, and remember being super-pumped about TNG when it came out. By the end of the first season, I was sick of it, and watched maybe 2 more episodes in the ensuing 6 years.
Over the last year, I sat down with my 12 and 11 year olds to watch it, because I'd gotten some serious "you blew it" vibes from people I respected.
Once again, first season was rough. So many things were mediocre to poor, including music, direction, and writing in many episodes. 2nd was better, and then.. My take is that the 3rd through 6th seasons include 10 or so of the best written/acted/conceived episodes of television ever done. There are also 50-60 really good episodes after that. Theres a lot of pretty good tv out there, but IMO, TNG is truly can't miss.
Rob
April 21st, 2016 at 11:34 AM ^
April 21st, 2016 at 11:36 AM ^
say what these abbreviations stand for?
April 21st, 2016 at 11:52 AM ^
TOS - The Original Series
TNG - The Next Generation
ST - Star Trek
April 21st, 2016 at 11:53 AM ^
ST = Star Trek
TOS = The Original series, so Shatner, Nimoy, Takei, etc.
TNG = The Next Generation, Patrick Stewart and a host of others.
I have seen Star Trek II and the JJ Abrams movies, but never really got into the rest of it. For some reason the overall universe was never that interesting to me. I liked Star Wars and Dune much better, likely because both are more sci-fi/fantasy mixes.
April 21st, 2016 at 12:32 PM ^
April 21st, 2016 at 11:08 PM ^
April 21st, 2016 at 11:02 AM ^
I still have and use my flip phone. I constantly get mocked for it, but it still works great.
Same here. It does what I need it to - it lets me make a call when I need to. Other than that, I leave it turned off.
Never seen Mad Men, Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, Game of Thrones, or countless others, especially the whole reality TV show revolution.
I only know what Twitter is because so many celebrities send tweets that end up getting their asses in a wringer, so you can't help but hear about them. Other than that, I'm clueless.
Hell, I'm so low tech I still use pencils and sticky notes.
April 21st, 2016 at 11:04 AM ^
leg warmers, parachute pants and Joanie Loves Chachi
April 21st, 2016 at 11:25 AM ^
Leg warmers are still a thing.
April 21st, 2016 at 11:06 AM ^
I don't watch the NBA at all. Apparently it's a pop culture thing now and not a sport.
up to the days of Magic and The Bird. The Bulls with Jordan and Pippen were good. The Pistons with Isiah and Lambier were good fun to watch. The Worm made both teams interesting to watch. Always watched NBA BB back then. Now, I'm with you. It's morphed into something else that's totally uninteresting.
April 22nd, 2016 at 11:01 AM ^
Teams would line up 4 players in one corner and their defensive man had to stay with them. Then the superstar would stand on the opposite side with his one defender and play one on one ball to the rim?
Yeah that was great team ball.
April 21st, 2016 at 11:07 AM ^
I can't get into most of those shows.
I can get through about a season and a half of most shows and then just get bored, even shows like the walking dead. I'd rather just watch a good movie and get the whole story in 2-3 hours, instead of watching 6+ seasons of a show. The exception is good comedies.
April 21st, 2016 at 11:14 AM ^
April 21st, 2016 at 11:25 AM ^
that's good to hear, i thought I was the only one who thought it was so boring
The only Walking Dead episode Ive watched a kid and a woman are being chased around inside a house. When they got outside they closed the door and had a 10 minute conversation on the porch while the zombies were seen by the windows with cracked glass. I assume the zombies in the show are very weak and cant break glass or knock down doors. Stoopid.
My wife is into the show and whenever I see her watching I ask her what happens when winter comes and being inanimate flesh the zombies freeze solid. Kind of ticks her off lol. World War Z was a much more realistic scenario. Loved how the zombies acted like ants when attacking the walls of Jerusalem.
As for Star Trek in all its incarnations Original, TNG and Deep Space Nine after they got thier little ship and the Dominion came into the story rock. Enterprise and Voyager sucked. All the movies except Wrath of Khan, The Search for Spock and the 2 JJ Abrams did also sucked.
April 21st, 2016 at 11:11 AM ^
I live in Chicago but didn't jump on the Blackhawks bandwagon
April 21st, 2016 at 12:33 PM ^
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Look at his avatar again.
April 21st, 2016 at 11:14 AM ^
know if it is "pop culture" but I think it could be considered - I have never gotten into "slim legged" pants, be it suits, jeans, khakis. I have a body type that could pull it off and I was generationally in the mix to make the change to that look but they look weird to me and I still like loose fitting stuff.